PCI-SIG Sends PCI Express and PCI-X 2.0 Specifications to Membership for 60-Day Review.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2002 PCI-SIG Member Companies Benefit from Early Access to Specifications, Input into Final Versions The PCI-SIG (PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). Special Interest Group) announced today that its board of directors has approved the PCI Express and PCI-X (PCI eXtended) An enhanced PCI bus technology originally developed by IBM, HP and Compaq that is backward compatible with existing PCI cards. PCI and 32-bit PCI-X slots are physically the same, and PCI cards can plug into PCI-X slots. 2.0 specifications, and has sent both specifications to the PCI-SIG membership for a 60-day review. During the review period, the PCI-SIG's 740-plus member companies will have an opportunity to review the specifications, submit comments, and begin studying the feasibility of new product designs based on the specifications. After the specifications are formally adopted, the final documents will be available to PCI-SIG members at no cost, along with free technical support and PCI-SIG-sponsored design engineer training opportunities. The on-schedule delivery of both specifications to the PCI-SIG membership caps a period of rapid progress for the PCI-SIG as it manages the evolution of PCI to meet future technology requirements. As a result, PCI not only maintains its status as a widely adopted interconnect for traditional computing applications, but expands its potential for use in next-generation platforms such as advanced embedded devices, mobile systems, and hand-held devices. "There has never been a better time to join the PCI-SIG, especially for companies that can now leverage the benefits of PCI for the first time as a result of these new, advanced PCI capabilities," said Roger Tipley, president and chairman of the PCI-SIG. "While PCI-X 2.0 is the high-bandwidth solution for standard computing platforms, PCI Express opens up an entirely new range of possible implementations and form factors. Together, these two specifications represent the most significant development in PCI since its inception, and we urge all technology companies to visit www.pcisig.com and take a closer look." About PCI Express PCI Express is a new serial I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output technology that is compatible with the current PCI software environment and which defines a packetized protocol and a layered architecture that enables attachment to copper, optical, or emerging physical signaling media. Previously code-named Third Generation I/O (3GIO GIO Giovedì (Italian: Thursday) GIO Government Information Office GIO Geographic Information Officer GIO General Insurance Ombudservice GIO Government Information Online GIO Government Insurance Office ), PCI Express can be used for chip-to-chip and add-in card applications to provide connectivity for add-in cards, as a graphics I/O attach point for increased graphics bandwidth, and as an attach point to other interconnects like 1394b, USB USB in full Universal Serial Bus Type of serial bus that allows peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, digitizers, data gloves, etc.) to be easily connected to a computer. 2.0, InfiniBand Architecture and Ethernet. About PCI-X 2.0 PCI-X 2.0 is a high-performance extension to the PCI Local Bus specification that facilitates connections to add-in cards for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI See SAS. , Serial ATA (SATA (Serial ATA) A serial version of the ATA (IDE) interface, which has been the de facto standard hard disk interface for desktop PCs for more than two decades. The original Parallel ATA (PATA) interface was launched in 1986. ), 4X and 12x InfiniBand, RAID and cluster interconnects for servers and workstations. PCI-X 2.0 defines two new versions of PCI-X add-in cards: PCI-X 266 and PCI-X 533. The first, PCI-X 266 runs at speeds up to 266 MegaTransfers per second using Double Data Rate (DDR (Double Data Rate) Refers to an SDRAM memory chip that increases performance by doubling the effective data rate of the frontside bus. For more details, see SDRAM. DDR - Double Data Rate Random Access Memory ) techniques, enabling sustainable PCI bandwidth of more than 2.1 Gigabytes/second. PCI-X 533 runs at speeds up to 533 MegaTransfers per second using Quadruple Data Rate (QDR QDR Quadrennial Defense Review (US DoD) QDR Quad Data Rate (Memory Technology) QDR Quality Deficiency Report QDR Quality, Durability and Reliability (Toyota Motor Company) ) techniques enabling bandwidth of more than 4.3 Gigabytes/second. The specification also provides increased reliability through Error Checking and Correction (ECC (1) (Error-Correcting Code) A type of memory that corrects errors on the fly. See ECC memory. (2) (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) A public key cryptography method that provides fast decryption and digital signature processing. ). PCI-X 2.0 will provide customers with needed I/O bandwidth along with investment protection because of its backward compatibility with existing systems. How to Join the PCI-SIG Membership in the PCI-SIG enables early access to the new PCI Express and PCI-X 2.0 specifications, as well as opportunities to provide feedback on the specification before its final approval. For more information, visit the PCI-SIG Web site at www.pcisig.com. Another source for detailed information and practical implementations of PCI Express and PCI-X 2.0 is the upcoming 2002 PCI-SIG Developers Conference, the premier technology-training event for systems architects, designers, engineers and engineering managers. The conference will be held June 3-4 at the San Jose Convention Center. Register online at http://www.pcisig.com/events/devcon. About the PCI-SIG The PCI-SIG is the industry organization that owns and manages PCI specifications as open industry standards. The organization defines and implements new industry standard I/O (Input/Output) specifications as the industry's local I/O needs evolve. The PCI Special Interest Group was formed in 1992, and the organization became a nonprofit corporation nonprofit corporation n. an organization incorporated under state laws and approved by both the state's Secretary of State and its taxing authority as operating for educational, charitable, social, religious, civic or humanitarian purposes. , officially named "PCI-SIG" in the year 2000. Currently, more than 740 industry-leading companies are active PCI-SIG members. The PCI-SIG's current directors are employed by the following PCI-SIG member companies: AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, www.amd.com) A major manufacturer of semiconductor devices including x86-compatible CPUs, embedded processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices and networking chips. , Compaq, HP, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix Technologies, ServerWorks and TI. For more information about the PCI-SIG, PCI-SIG membership benefits or the June 3-4 PCI-SIG Developer's Conference, contact the PCI-SIG by phone, at 800/433-5177 (within the United States), or by fax at 503/297-1090, or visit the PCI-SIG web site at: http://www.pcisig.com Note to Editors: All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. |
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